1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for detecting the condition of an organism through the measurement of peptides from a sample of said organism.
2. The Prior Art
Various analytical methods are employed for detecting the condition of an organism. Thus, for example, in the diagnostics of higher organisms, when pathological results are obtained, attempts are made to fathom the causes of the pathological change on the basis of the symptoms in order to develop a causal therapy. Further, efforts are being made to develop a reference of an average “healthy” organism by sequencing the genomes of organisms and establishing “wild type genomes” in order to be able to discover individual deviations which could indicate possible pathogenic developments by performing corresponding gene analyses. A drawback of the first methodological approach is that diagnostics free from hypotheses (bias-free) cannot be performed since the diagnostics therein are already based on assumptions. A drawback of the second method is that it will not be possible for a long time to diagnose the important or even all diseases attributed to genetic dysfunctions. Another drawback of the latter method may also be that a mutation on a gene does not necessarily result in expression of the related phenotype.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a universally employable diagnostic method by which it is possible to avoid the drawbacks mentioned and, in particular, to perform diagnostics free from hypotheses. In addition, the diagnostic method should be universally employable, not be restricted to higher developed systems, but also be employable for detecting the condition of lower organisms. In addition, it should be easy to establish and capable of being carried out with per se known techniques.